I don’t know how accurate the picture is but it does seem to follow the story that is generally accepted as her life - childhood in a brothel, singing on the streets for a living,discovery, stardom [arguably the most recognizable voice of the century] and death at the age of 48, caused by the excess of everything.The love of her life, nicely portrayed in the movie by Jean-Pierre Martins, was the Algerian/French boxing world champion, Marcel Cerdan.

Edith, the little sparrow in French argot, was not a nice person and the movie does a great job in showing this but making her very human. Marion Cotillard is absolutely sensational as Edith [note the name as she will be talked about at Oscar time].

At the end of the movie there was a moment’s stillness in the audience, not only because of the terrific ending,but because you felt you had also been part of an extraordinary life. The line for the next performance was around the block, proof, I hope, that there is an audience for grown up movies about grown up people.

In the play, the prodigal son returns unexpectedly from his banishment to the colonies [Australia] and proceeds to cause havoc in the organized lives of the father, mother and daughter of the family, particularly as the father is standing for Parliament and the son looking to marry into the local aristocracy. The “mores” of the times arevery well reflected and still resonate with current times.The outcome of the play is not what I think most playgoers will anticipate but it works extremely well.

The Director, Jonathon Bank, has done a marvellous job and the acting throughout is superb. I would be surprised if anyone came away from this well-constructed and well-written play with anything but pleasure.